Tony Stewart News

Tony Stewart soldiered to a 17th-place finish in the STP 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The result boosted him two spots in the championship point standings to 15thsix races into the 36-race season.

Stewart started seventh in the 500-lap race around the rough-and-tumble .526-mile oval and kept his No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS among the top-10 for the first 75 laps. But a tight-handling condition in the center of the corners abetted a lack of forward bite off the corners, and it quicklymetastasized as the race wore on, dropping Stewart outside the top-20 after 100 laps.

“I’m pretty happy. Code 3 Associates is on our car this week and the last time I drove their car, we won at Dover last year. Excited for them and excited for us,” said Stewart, a three-time Sprint Cup winner at Martinsville (October 2000, April 2006 and October 2011). “We’re battling weather here this weekend. It was supposed to rain out today and we got that in. Now they’re saying it might rain out tomorrow. If that does happen, I’m kind of comfortable with what we’ve got if we have to go straight to the race. We’ve got some things we can do to make it a little better, but all in all, our Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet is a pretty balanced racecar.”

Code 3 Associates (www.Code3Associates.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization specializing in animal rescue and recovery in disaster areas and is a partner of Stewart-Haas Racing, the Sprint Cup team Stewart co-owns with Haas Automation founder Gene Haas. The continued operation of Code 3 Associates relies totally on the generosity of donors and bravery of its responders. Membership educates the populace on pet preparedness during disasters, lends a larger voice to animal-related legislation and policy, and supports first-responder and officer training across the United States. Learn more at Code 3 Associates’ Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1hisA98

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 27, 2014) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers see highs and lows throughout the course of a season. More often than not, the glory of the highs is found in shifting from the lows.

Much like the Tideway in England’s famed River Thames, where the tide rises and falls twice a day by up to 24 feet, Tony Stewart has experienced his share of tidal activity in the first five races of 2014. Finishes of 35th, 16th and 33rd to start the season have been offset by back-to-back top-fives, righting his ship as it sails upward in points from 32nd to 17th.

For the second straight week, Tony Stewart and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team faced adversity. And for the second straight week, Stewart and Co. overcame it, earning their second straight top-five finish.

Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Stewart overcame a midrace spin that dropped him to last in the 43-car field. But just like last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway where Stewart finished fourth, a tenacious drive coupled with savvy pit strategy brought Stewart’s No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet home fifth in the Auto Club 400.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., by setting the fourth-fastest lap in qualifying for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Harvick turned a lap of 38.523 seconds at 186.901 mph on the 2-mile oval.

“Just hitting a lap, time after time is the thing here, especially when you run high like that,” said Harvick, who won at Fontana in 2011. “I overdrove it around (Turn) 2 and under drove it around (Turn) 3, but giving up a tenth was a lot better than giving up four (tenths). All in all, we’re pretty happy with our Jimmy John’s Chevy. That’s the first time that we’ve made it to the final round of qualifying since this new knockout system was implemented.”

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 19, 2014) – In more ways than one, this week is a rush for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR).

Teams rushed to get back from what turned out to be a Sunday night race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway as rain pushed the afternoon race to a primetime affair. The four-car SHR operation diligently rushed to turn cars, equipment and trucks around for the trip to the left coast for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. – the third western race of the very young 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

And the rush won’t stop once SHR finally touches down in Southern California. Tony Stewart will make sure of it.

Tony Stewart earned his best result of the still young 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season by finishing fourth in the rain-delayed Food City 500 Sunday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

It was an impressive outing considering Stewart started the race 37th in the 43-car field. His No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) was a handful on Friday in the weekend’s opening practice, and that day’s qualifying session proved no better. But in the two practices on Saturday, Stewart and crew chief Chad Johnston made incremental gains, and they ended the final practice session with a Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy that had a fighting chance for Sunday.

“When you’re measuring things by thousands of a second, it’s so tight,” said Busch, who has five Sprint Cup wins at Bristol (March 2002, March 2003, August 2003, March 2004 and March 2006). “We went out too early in that first run. We ran a .78 in practice in our Haas Automation Chevy and we backed that up with a .95. That’s not what you need to do.”

Stewart’s toughness has been on display for the last six months as the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has come back from a severely broken right leg suffered in a sprint car crash last August. Stewart has undergone three surgeries, endless physical rehabilitation and the pain associated with each.

The best view Tony Stewart had of Las Vegas Motor Speedway was in his rearview mirror as he left the 1.5-mile oval on Sunday following the Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

The 267-lap contest was a forgettable one for Stewart. His No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS proved to be a handful throughout the two-and-a-half-hour race.

“Loose” is how Stewart constantly described his racecar, and no matter what crew chief Chad Johnston did in an attempt to solve the car’s ill-handling ways, nothing made a lasting impact. Stewart ended the race in 33rd position, four laps down.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by setting the 16th-fastest lap in qualifying for Sunday’sKobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Harvick turned a lap of 28.184 seconds at 191.598 mph on the 1.5-mile oval in the second qualifying round.

“We struggled in qualifying trim,” said Harvick, who has three top-five finishes in 13 Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas. “We struggled in race trim, too, but we got a lot better in Thursday’s test and the practices earlier today. We had a vibration in the center of the corners and that killed our speed off the corners. The Jimmy John’s Chevrolet is really good in race trim, so we’re happy with where we’re at.”

KANNAPOLIS, N.C., (March 5, 2014) – When Tony Stewart comes to Las Vegas, he comes to win. The difference between Stewart and most others who come to Sin City is that Stewart actually emerges victorious, be it on the racetrack or on the tables of the MGM Grand.

Stewart is a savvy poker player, and that works well for him behind the wheel of a racecar too. The driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has 48 career wins, and among that tally is a 2012 victory at Las Vegas.

Tony Stewart had a solid top-10 finish in his grasp Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway until an ill-timed caution with less than 65 laps remaining in The Profit on CNBC 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race left Stewart with a 16th-place finish.

Stewart had piloted his No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS from 20th in the 43-car field to as high as eighth on lap 235 of the 312-lap race. A routine, green-flag pit stop on lap 237 for four tires and fuel set Stewart up for a strong run to the finish.

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS, led the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent Friday at Phoenix International Raceway by setting the 10th-fastest lap in qualifying for Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Busch turned a lap of 26.078 seconds at 138.047 mph on the 1-mile oval in the final qualifying round.

“A top-10 start is good, but we wanted better,” said Busch, who won at Phoenix in 2005. “We had the Haas Automation Chevrolet up to fourth in the first session and had a plan in place to make a run at the top-five in the second session. We made a small air pressure adjustment that we thought might get us there, but unfortunately it made it so we couldn’t rotate the center of the corner and that hurt us. We’ll be fine. We have some work to do in race trim, so hopefully we get some practice time tomorrow, but we’ll be in a good spot when it’s time to race.”